The Wheel of Time
by AlterJericho
Summary: It was truly ironic that a hunter he initially had such a low opinion of would later become one of the most important and respected hunters in his life. Based on Ace Commander x Kindred Hunter relationship throughout the game.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Guess who replayed MH4U again? Guess who fell in love with all the NPCs again, including the Ace Hunters? This is a fic about the changing relationship between the Commander and the Kindred Hunter - I'm using my hunter's name Selena and a female gender, for those curious. Feel free to insert your own hunter in your mind, if you like. Also... it's been a while since I've written something. I know it's annoying to ask for comments, but I'd love any feedback on whether I'm doing OK... cause I have no idea ahaha** **(´∀** ***)**

"So, I've been hearing a lot about this new hunter of the Caravan..." Ace Gunner mused, carefully loading pellets into her gun.

The Ace Commander grunted in reply, stern gaze on the horizon and one hand on the railing below him. They had been travelling on the same sandship for the last few days; the monotony of the journey and the boring desert stretch of the scenery coupled with his inability to hunt or be active in any way had put him into a bad mood. The stories about the new hunter for the Capital C Caravan who had defeated a Dah'ren Mohran in their underclothes was not only extremely exaggerated, but very annoying. He was sure the fool, fresh off the boat and greener than a Mega Potion was already getting cocky thanks to the unending (and likely undeserved) praise of the Val Habar merchants. He sighed and crossed his arm, glumly thinking that if he hadn't taken away the Ace Lancer from the Caravan, they wouldn't have to deal with an inexperienced upstart for protection.

No matter; he intended to meet this hunter soon and judge them for himself. And he did NOT intend on pulling any punches.

"What's that face for?" Gunner teased, finishing up the last of her bowgun maintenance and joining him by the ship railing, giving him a smirk.

"This period of doing nothing while the threat is out there is wearing at me" he replied, not untruthfully.

"We've faced bigger threats before and we have the Ace Lancer with us this time. As long as we all stay cautious, we should have nothing to worry about" she assured, eyes scanning the barren desert landscape.

"'Should' isn't the same as what will happen..." he reminded, lip pursed slightly.

"You don't need to remind me that" she joked, though the levity in her tone did not much the way her dark eyes zeroed in on his face, searching for signs of doubt.

He nodded, tense. She knew what ate away at him when preparing for missions like these; all these years and it still haunted him. Frustrated, he ran a few fingers through his long hair, wishing for the stop at Harth to come as quickly as possible.

* * *

The Cadet who had nearly slept the whole day away, mumbling and rubbing his eyes, was instantly rejuvenated upon seeing Harth in in the near distance. He bolted off the caravan they had taken from the docks, desperate to get to the nearest item supplier for something or other. The Commander sighed again, shaking his head as he watched the boy move with a force of a small tornado through the central hub of Harth. The Ace Lancer chuckled patiently, hefting his large lance back onto his back and joined the Gunner at the entrance to the city.

The instant the Commander stepped inside, he felt the humidity hit him. Dressed in such thick armor made it instantly uncomfortable and he swear he could already feel his hair being frizzled. Steadying himself, he followed the others further into the city, making their way through the twisted paths when he was taken by surprise at the sight before him.

The Ace Lancer was laughing heartily, clapping at the back of the instantly recognisable form of the Capital C Caravaneer. So they HAD come to Harth! He pushed forward, past Troverians and eyes on the two men south of the main hub. He saw the Ace Lancer point at him and gesture to the Caravaneer; hopefully saying nothing negative about his leadership. The older man's opinion did slightly make him nervous; the Lancer was one to be respected and he hoped he was leaving a somewhat good impression, given his considerably younger age.

Just as he made his way past what looked to be an open air kitchen, he saw a Felyne race down the streets, running straight for the Ace Lancer. Perhaps this was the Palico the Lancer had mentioned before so favourably? He looked past where the Felyne had raced out from, only to find himself freezing.

That uniform was unmistakable. The hunter he had just locked eyes with, clad in red and blue with a signature Capital C seal, was their new hunter.

He stared at them from above, eyebrows raising. She did NOT look like anything special; blonde hair in two high pigtails, a worn looking bowgun strapped to her back and what looked to be little in the way of muscle mass. THIS was the hunter an entire group of people were depending on? To save their lives, to be their defender?

Feeling annoyance growing in his chest at the completely disappointing sight of this new hunter, he instead changed his mind and stalked towards her, making his way down the narrow path to where she was standing. Her eyes widened as he approached; she looked unsure as to why he approached her.

She was going to find out, all right. She was going to find out exactly what he thought of her 'hunter' potential.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Chapter 2 is here! I know there's not many people following this story... but I still want to finish it. If you're wanting more, please do leave a review so I know people are still interested :D Thanks for reading.**

"You're the hunter? YOU?" he scoffed, running a critical eye up and down her armour.

She frowned, nodding slightly with an uncertain look.

"Is there a problem with that?" she replied with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Oh no, no problem at all. It's just that you're not up to my expectations" he countered, raising a sharp eyebrow at her.

She scowled; seems like the rookie had a bit of an attitude. How _wonderful._

"Well, did I ask for your opinion? I don't even know who you are" she snapped back, crossing her arms in defiance.

"The main opinion I care about? The Caravaneer's. The one who HIRED me" she finished, throwing him one last dirty look before storming off.

Hmph. An amateur AND one with a bad attitude. He frowned, watching the impertinent girl walk off to where the Caravaneer was talking to the Ace Lancer. If he wasn't so pressed for time with his current assignment, he would organise a new, better hunter for the Caravan. She obviously had an inflated head in the small time she'd been in Val Habar.

He huffed and turned away, only to see the Cadet watching him barely restraining full-blown laughter.

"What?" the Commander demanded, frowning.

"Oh, nothing..." the Cadet grinned, turning back to the merchant he was haggling with.

He flushed, annoyed that the younger hunter had seen his... 'spat' with the Caravan's new member. He didn't have time for this pettiness; it was time to make the final preparations for their quest in defeating the dread beast given to their group.

He made his way through the bustling city, brushing his way past the shorter Troverians to find the Gunner, talking to what looked like a young human girl by the forge.

"I hear you made a new friend" Gunner giggled, turning away from the younger human girl and giving him an amused look.

"I do not follow you" he replied, feeling apprehension at the amused smile she had on.

"You and the Caravan's hunter... I hear you're already thick as thieves" she teased.

He grunted, face pinching in annoyance.

"It's nothing of importance. We came here to deal with what we were assigned with, not to make friends."

She sighed, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Well, it's about what I expected. But we're probably going to run into them again, so make nice and put a smile on will you?"

The Commander attempted a smile, feeling like his face was cramping. Judging by the Gunner's face, it looked as bad as it felt.

"Never mind, heh. I suppose we better start focusing on this monster problem of ours..."

* * *

"When is this infernal weather going to clear up?"

"Doesn't look like anytime soon" the Cadet replied glumly, staring at the huge black clouds covering the horizon.

The four Ace Hunters had been on the same boat in the same gods-forsaken weather for 3 days now- they were forced to spend most of it under deck due to the unending torrent of rain. All one could see for miles was bleak gray. They were no closer to finding the Gore Magala and still a day off from their intended port. It was wearing on them, to say the least.

The Commander groaned and pushed himself away from the railing, stalking towards the bow of the ship. He didn't expect to see much out of the front view, but he was never comfortable standing idle. He took his spyglass and scoured the front horizon, expecting to see nothing of interest except more clouds.

What he saw almost curdled his stomach.

A lone ship was in the distance, being attacked by a dragon that looked like darkness itself. He took in a sharp breath, focusing his spyglass and yelling out to the others to join him.

The dragon seemed to have no visible eyes, but gigantic wings blocking out the sky. Even without the spyglass, thick purple fog was visible from the boat, swirling around in the air.

"The Magala...!" the Gunner breathed out next to him, shocked.

The three Aces stared in disbelief at the Gunner, but her keen eyes were not deceived. The dreaded monster that was supposedly sighted near a cliff side a day's worth of travel away from here was now in front of them, circling the boat skyward like a shark out for blood.

He focused his spyglass further; he could make out one lone hunter shooting at the beast, landing a decent amount of shots but looking slightly overwhelmed. His eyes spotted the insignia on the sail and his stomach dropped; that was the Capital C sign! He snapped his eyes back to the hunter he had seen earlier; blonde hair and the same uniform confirmed his fears. It was them, all right.

"We sail to aid them!" he cried out, sprinting towards the steering wheel and grabbing the wood slippery with rain.

He steered the heavy wheel towards the other boat, trying to navigate through the choppy waters as fast as possible while the other Aces balanced the sails and prepared the weapons. The Magala briefly seemed to leave the boat's airspace for a moment, wounded; the hunter was at least capable of making it think twice about its next offense. He willed the boat to go faster, battling through the rain pelting his face and fear in his heart.

His stomach dropped; the Gore Magala had returned and was now speeding towards the ship at full throttle. Such a ramming movement at that speed could destroy the Capital C's boat! They were so close - but they wouldn't be able to board in time before the Magala hit the ship. They needed to stop the impact, somehow, someway-

Instinct took over; instead of bringing up their own ship beside the besieged boat, the Commander rammed their own into the beast mid-flight. The Magala cried out, wood splintering into its flesh. With a wounded roar, it took to the skies and fled the airspace.

There was no time for celebration; the Capital C's boat was covered in holes and leaks. In desperation, the Aces pulled the caravan member's towards their own ship, attempting to get them onto their own stable ship when-

 **"CRREAAAK!"**

Both groups looked up in horror to see wooden post snapping in two, hurtling down towards the deck. There was no space or time to run; it smashed into the deck, sending people flying in all directions.

"DOODLE!"

Ace Commander snapped his head left at the sound of the Guildmarm's scream; the wood had smashed right into the face of the hunter knocking her unconscious and the woman fell into the sea with a splash. Her body fell into the stormy seas, dropping under the surface rapidly.

There was no time to think on it - he acted on pure instinct. Whatever his thoughts on the girl, he could never let an innocent hunter die; with a will of iron, he threw himself into the black sea after her.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Now we're featuring the hunter's POV!**

"Ughhh..."

Selena rasped, feeling the sound raze through her throat. She felt like absolute garbage, though she couldn't quite remember why. She squinted up at the ceiling of her room in the ship-

 _THE SHIP! That Dragon_! She rolled over out of bed in alarm, only to tumble over as soon as she put a leg on the floor. She grumbled, legs still weak from the fight. On the floor however, it was apparent that the room was completely still - had they made port safely? She slowly raised herself off the floor and pushed the door open, wincing at the bright sunlight that streamed into her sore eyes.

They seemed to be at a beach of some sort; white sands stretched into the distance, with the sound of gentle waves against the shore. She stumbled through the sands, making her way towards the Caravaneer and what looked to be a resident of the beach they had landed on.

"Ah, there's my hunter! Knew it wouldn't take long to get ya back on ya feet!" the old man grinned, patting the hunter on the back.

Behind him was the worried looking woman she had spied earlier and to her displeasure, the Ace Commander who simply watched her with a slight frown.

"What the hell happened?" she asked, voice still raspy.

"Hoowee... well, we're not dead for one!" the Caravaneer laughed.

"Even YOU made it hunter. A pleasant surprise" the Commander replied tersely.

She bristled slightly. 'Surprise' sounded like an insult. And she doubted how _pleasant_ he found it.

"Bless my heart that was a shock!" the older woman exclaimed, peering up at the hunter through her spectacles.

The Cheeko Sands Chief introduced herself and explained where they were. Selena looked around in amazement at the amount of Felynes running around; thanks to the Chief the island was almost completely devoid of any lifeform outside of the mewing creatures. Her palico looked excited to be there at least, which made her smile a little. Eventually, they arrived at the topic of the monster that had given Selena so much trouble.

"It has a name, at least... the Gore Magala" the Commander stated, eyes troubled.

He went on to describe the nature of the beast and the troubles it had caused for the Guild.

"That dangerous matter of yours came after us" The Caravaneer said, looking over at the dents and scratches on their boat caused by the beast.

"Then might I suggest you employ a more capable hunter? Sir" the Commander replied, intense eyes locking onto hers.

"Excuse me?!" she choked, spluttering with indignation and walking up into his space. He didn't back down; he stood there, almost in a state of calm but his stormy blue eyes gave a different tone.

"I fought that thing tooth and nail to get it away from our ship, which I did. And if you didn't notice, no one got hurt EXCEPT for me!" she countered, wanting to yell but unable to thanks to her raspy throat.

"Hey now, ix-nay on the low blows and the fighting. Besides, I've got a keen eye for hunters. I know something special when I see it" the Caravaneer stated, getting in between the two.

"I won't ever let you down, Boss. And yours is the opinion that matters" Selena said firmly, backing away from the Commander with eyes narrowed.

He looked at her with mild disdain, but seemed done with talking.

The Chief and the Caravaneer discussed Cathar, as well as their next steps. Eventually the Chief mentioned a monster that was approaching Cathar; Selena, glad to use an excuse to get away from the insufferable Commander, agreed with the Chief to visit the supposed cat in charge in Sunsnug Isle.

She made her way towards the far-off Isle, her temper growing with every step through the sand. 'Employ a more capable hunter?!' She was glad the Caravaneer was there to cool her off, or she might have raised her fists.

'Typical insufferable Guild Knight types... think they're better than everyone else' she fumed to herself, stomping her way towards the Isle in the distance. The sand was the color of his hair. It pissed her off even more.


End file.
